


moon upon moon

by jimhawkins



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 10:52:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16638530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jimhawkins/pseuds/jimhawkins
Summary: There were times when a young kittypet named Rusty could see even when he closed his eyes.





	moon upon moon

Before he was old enough to understand that he was dreaming, Rusty saw them.

Cats. Not the kind of fuzzy images of his earliest days suckling at his mother alongside his sister. Not the kind that occasionally prowled around the neighborhood free of Twoleg collars. Cats that seemed both too real and surreal to determine their origin or even be sure of their existence.

These cats floated from tree branch to tree branch. Over waterfalls and up flowing rivers without rocks to support their paws. Their jaws opened soundlessly, as if mewing. Their coats were too sleek to not bathe the cats they embraced in gently glowing halos.

Somehow, Rusty knew them. Not by name or by scent, but some other unknown sense he couldn’t even begin to describe.

He had no body. Yet Rusty moved through these strange lands full of strange cats. They were all around him. Familiar yet distant.

Whenever he awoke from these images he always wanted to ask his mother who these toms and she-cats were, but couldn’t find the words. Even if he could he was still too young to remember much beyond his immediate needs for warmth and milk.

Still.

One night was different from all the rest.

His form was solid. He stood upright, body limber and able. He didn’t know how to speak but it seemed no cat here could.

Rusty didn’t remember who he was or how many times he’d been here. He did, however, feel drawn towards a quiet power.

Rusty alighted by the edge of a crystalline pool. The surface was still. Yet just below that smooth surface were vague shapes and swirls of images that almost made sense to his young eyes. There were no reflections at this strange pool. Only pictures that faded into one another constantly.

His ears pricked upward.

Muted sounds, as if from underwater and far away, seemed to finally reach him.

Rusty blinked and there they were. As if lounging there the entire time—though not necessarily in wait for him—an innumerable number of cats he’d glimpsed before were now resting around the water’s edge. They were many but the young tom sensed no hostility.

For the first time one of them spoke.

“Nice to see you, Firestar,” an unknown voice purred. “Come. We’ve much to talk about.”

**Author's Note:**

> a simple homage to a series from my youth i finally got around to finishing. it takes place in the events before "into the wild."
> 
> the work's title comes from a short line in the beginning of "the sun trail." keep in mind that besides that and the original series i have no idea what's going on in warriors canon. hopefully one day i will know, however. i hope you enjoyed your stay here!


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